Arizona Urges Federal Focus As Fentanyl Flow Surges and Border Drug Enforcement Lapses

Arizona on the Front Line of a Growing Fentanyl Crisis

Arizona is confronting a lethal surge of synthetic opioids at its southern border. As the state's attorney general, I am deeply concerned that recent shifts in federal priorities have reduced enforcement against major drug trafficking and money-laundering networks while emphasizing immigration operations.

Evidence of a Shift in Federal Priorities

Reporting from The New York Times, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal indicates federal drug prosecutions are down roughly 10% through September compared with the same nine-month period last year. The number of money-laundering charges has dropped by nearly 25%, reaching lows not seen since the 1990s. Teams that previously focused on child-exploitation and complex narcotics investigations are being disbanded, and Customs and Border Protection checkpoints along Arizona State Route 82 — a key smuggling corridor from Nogales — have reportedly been left unattended.

Arizona Is A Major Interdiction Point

Arizona has become a primary channel for fentanyl entering the United States. More than half of the fentanyl seized each year nationwide is confiscated in Arizona. During my tenure, Arizona law enforcement has seized over 27 million fentanyl pills, and recent prosecutions have produced sentences exceeding 20 years for major traffickers whose arrests recovered tens of thousands of pills.

New Threats and Ongoing Dangers

In addition to fentanyl, an even more potent analogue — carfentanil — is emerging. Carfentanil is estimated to be about 100 times stronger than fentanyl and poses an extraordinary risk to first responders and the public. Cocaine and methamphetamine continue to threaten public health and safety across our communities.

Policy Concerns and Enforcement Abuses

Recent federal actions have undercut progress against cartels. The pardon of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández — who prosecutors allege facilitated hundreds of tons of cocaine into the U.S. — raises troubling questions about federal resolve to target kingpins. At the same time, deployments of federal agents to domestic operations have led to troubling incidents: media investigations report more than 170 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents, and the Cato Institute finds nearly 75% of people detained by ICE this year had no criminal conviction history.

What Arizona Is Asking For

Most illicit drugs enter the country through legal ports of entry, often in vehicles driven by U.S. citizens. Arizona has repeatedly requested more Drug Enforcement Administration agents and increased support from Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI to keep focus on major traffickers rather than diverting those resources to immigration sweeps. Critical CBP checkpoints such as Route 82 must remain manned to prevent cartel flows.

Call to Action

Arizona cannot shoulder this challenge alone. The federal government must restore emphasis on interdiction and prosecution of cartel leaders, traffickers and money launderers. Protecting communities from fentanyl and other deadly drugs requires coordinated federal-state action and the focused deployment of law-enforcement resources to the real criminals — violent gang members, cartel operatives and major dealers — not actions that harm innocent Americans.

My office will continue to pursue traffickers aggressively, but we need the federal partnership and resources to prevent these deadly drugs from reaching neighborhoods across the nation.